I received a free copy of this book in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. See our disclosure policy here.
Good morning everyone! We got the chance to review a wonderful ebook that we’re sharing with you guys today.
When you’re homeschooling kids who are active learners, you find out pretty quickly that they need to take several activity breaks throughout the day. So when the book “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” by Heather Haupt was released, we were super excited to read about how we can make those breaks better for our kids.
We were already using a brain breaks system before this. I based it on a picture I saw on Pinterest. I just grabbed colored popsicle sticks and wrote different movements on them “Run in place for 30 seconds”, “Do 10 toe touches”, etc. And the kids could stick their hand in and grab whichever one they wanted. So I knew that brain breaks are a great way to help children regain their focus.
But here’s why I liked Heather’s book and system better. First, she begins the book with a scientific explanation of why all of us need brain breaks, not just kids. It turns out that periodic physical activity actually stimulates parts of our brains for learning. So moving around isn’t just good for kids – it’s necessary to help them learn effectively. That was very enlightening to me.
Within the book, Heather includes several printable brain breaks of her own and these are not the typical kid exercises either. They’re silly enough to make the activities fun, but they also include helpful training in balance work, coordination, and focus.
Pooh selected “Popcorn Pops” as his brain break activity. We weren’t sure how to do those, but “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” has full-color illustrations of several of the exercises and written descriptions of all of them, which helped us figure out what to do.
Basically, you crouch down to the floor…
And then explode out into a star shape. (Like a popcorn kernel popping.)
Roo picked the “Beanbag Balance Race” activity. Can you tell he was excited?
He and Tigger loved racing one another with beanbags on their heads! At first, Roo got frustrated because he kept looking down, which naturally made him lose his beanbag. Eventually, he got the hang of it.
We loved working with “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks”! If your kids are active learners, I highly recommend this book to help you break up the monotony of the school day and to help them refocus their minds on learning!
Pick up your own copy of “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” below:
brilliant, I just thought it was wriggles that needed to escape. I knew that once they have bounced about it bit that they could focus and settle again but I had no idea it actually helped the learning process. That book in on my wish list.
I just read this and it is brilliant. I am so impressed there is science behind the movement. I love that kind of applied science. My kids are going to love doing these things. I would get them up and moving if they were wriggly but knowing what happens in the brain is amazing. I am hoping a lot of those excercises will help my little girl’s brain with her special needs as well. All I need is a big ball and a bigger house…..lol. Thank you, I would have never found this on my own.
You’re welcome! It’s so helpful to find out what our kids actually need to learn well. I hope you and your kids enjoy it! 🙂
We have been using these for a bit now and my kids love the breaks, they ask for them and it really does help with their leaning. That and the pe course is wearing them out. lol.
I’m so glad! The physical activity really does make a difference in their attention span!
Any chance you are familiar with Waldorf education and the use of “circle time?” In the early years most of the main lessons are done during circle time which is all put to movement for these specific reasons. Crossing the midline is very important for connecting the right and left brains. Circle time continues to be important thru out the grades too.
Yes! Circle time is awesome for getting the day started.
There are so many activities we did in preschool years ago that I had no idea were actually useful until I became a parent…lol.